Attachment & Parenting Early Social Development

1. Attachment & ParentingEarly Social Development Mr. Koch AP Psychology Forest Lake High School

2. Attachment • A deep and enduring relationship with the person with whom a baby has shared many experiences • Typically begins forming during 1st year of life • John Bowlby • British psychoanalyst drew attention to importance of attachment after observing depression and other emotional scars in children orphaned in WWII • Inspired researchers to study how attachments are formed and what happens when they’re absent or broken

3. Imprinting Konrad Lorenz (1937) • Some animals (i.e. ducks, geese) develop attachment during a “critical period” shortly after birth • Imprinting – instinctively becomes attached to first moving thing seen at this time

4. Konrad Lorenz - Imprinting

5. Harry Harlow (1959) • Tested two opposing hypotheses on what leads to developing attachment: • Attachment occurs because mothers feed their babies • Attachment is based on the warm, comforting contact from the mother

6. Harlow Monkey Studiesclip #1

7. Harlow Monkey Studiesclip #2

8. Harlow Monkey Studiesclip #3

9. Harlow Monkey Studies • Also investigated what happens when attachments do not form • Isolated some newborn monkeys from all social contact – dramatic disturbances after one year • When visited by normal monkeys, huddled in corner and rocked • Unable to have normal sexual relations • Artificially inseminated females tended to ignore own babies • Would sometimes abuse/kill them when babies were distressed • Tragically similar situations observed in Romanian and Russian orphanages

10. Harlow Monkey Studies

11. Mary Ainsworth (1978)(student of John Bowlby) • “Strange Situation” experiment • Infant interacts with mother and stranger in unfamiliar room • Plays with both → mother leaves briefly → baby alone briefly → mother returns

12. Mary Ainsworth – “Strange Situation” • “Secure Attachment” – most infants • Use mother as home base, leave side to explore, but return periodically for comfort/contact • When mother returns from separation, infant happy to see her and receptive to contact

13. Mary Ainsworth – “Strange Situation” • “Insecure Attachment” • Avoidant – avoid or ignore mother upon return • Ambivalent – upset when mother leaves, switch between clinging and angrily rejecting mother upon return • Disorganized – behavior is inconsistent, disturbed, and disturbing (i.e. – cry after mother returns and comforts; reach out for mother while looking away from her) • Secure attachments correlated with more positive social relationships later in life

14. Mary Ainsworth – “Strange Situation”

15. Parenting Styles

16. Parenting Styles • Authoritarian • Strict, punitive, unsympathetic • Value obedience from child and authority for selves • Try to curb child’s will, discourage independence • Detached and seldom praise • Their children tend to be: • Unfriendly, distrustful, withdrawn, less empathic, more aggressive, more likely to cheat, less likely to feel guilty or accept blame

17. Parenting Styles • Permissive • More affectionate, give lax discipline, great deal of freedom • Children tend to be: • Immature, dependent, unhappy, prone to tantrums, act helpless

18. Parenting Styles • Authoritative • Fall between previous two extremes • Reason with child, encourage give and take, sets limits but encourages independence, firm but understanding, demands are reasonable and consistent, give children more responsibility as they mature • Children tend to be: • Friendly, cooperative, self-reliant, socially responsible, better in school, more popular

19. Parenting Styles • Uninvolved • Indifferent to their children • Invest as little time, money, effort as possible • Focus on own needs before child’s • Children tend to be: • Less likely to form secure attachments, more impulsive, aggressive, noncompliant, moody, low in self-esteem

20. Parenting Styles • But, research is correlational • Does parenting cause traits in child? or do child’s traits influence parenting style used by parents?